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Art and Culture - Module 10 - Reformation and Counter-Reformation

Tenth module for GNED 1201 (Aesthetic Experience and Ideas). This one mainly covers the Reformation and Counter-Reformation of the 16th and early 17th Century. It also covers aesthetic responses to the Reformation, especially Caravaggio and Bernini.

This course is a required general education course for all first-year students at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. My version of the course is structured as a kind of Art History and Culture course. Some of the content overlaps with my other Gen Ed course.

One of the paitnings from "Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry". This shows purified souls in Purgatory showing souls trapped in water, fire, on rocky and grassy land where the are rescued by Angels. Beasts (probably Demons) surround a soul.

Inscribed in the great dome of St. Peter’s in Rome is “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.”

Christ Handing the Keys to St Peter by PERUGINO, c. 1481

While the Church and its popes were deeply enmeshed in political machinations, a movement for reform of the Church began to build during this same time (1490s-1520s). These reformers wanted a less worldly, more spiritual church, as well as a church focused on the needs of their parishioners (i.e., vernacular translations of Bible and more charity, less building).

One of the most prominent of these church reformers was Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536). An immensely learned scholar, Erasmus created a new Latin translation (from the Greek) of the New Testament as well as In Praise of Folly [1511] which is a satirical attack on Church corruption, popular superstitions, and traditions. An advocate of reform from within the Church, he engaged in a series of written debates with Martin Luther.

Thirty Years War [1618-1648] began with the Defenestration (throw someone out a window) of Prague. In this case, it was Papal envoys who were defenestrated.

Bust of Francesco I d&apos;Este, 1650-1651

CostanzaPiccolomini

Francois Lemoyne, Apotheosis of Hercules, ceiling Versailles 1733-36

Art and Culture - Module 10 - Reformation and Counter-Reformation

1.
Lecture 10
REFORMATION
AND
REACTION
AESTHETIC
EXPERIENCE
AND
IDEAS

2.
Woodcuts illustrating the sale of
indulgences (paying to reduce time
spent in purgatory).

3.
The Church believed that one could
reduce one’s time in Purgatory by
performing good deeds while alive in
this world.
But what is a good deed?
How about working/helping the
poor?
What about giving money to the
Church and telling it to use it to help
the poor?
What about just giving money to the
Church (they know how to best use
it, after all, they are God’s
representatives on earth)?

4.
“You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church … Whatever you
forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven and whatever you permit on
earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Matthew 16: 18-19.
Inscribed in the great dome of St. Peter’s in Rome

5.
“You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church … Whatever you forbid on earth will be
forbidden in heaven and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Matthew 16: 18-19.
St. Peter receiving the keys. Later Catholic tradition claimed Peter journeyed
to Rome and became the first bishop of Rome (i.e., the first Pope).

6.
Dominican Friar Tetzel was the best
known of the indulgence sellers.
The Friar's most famous jingle was:
"As soon as the coin in the coffer
rings, a soul from Purgatory
upward springs."

7.
Desiderius Erasmus
(1466-1536)
While the Church and its popes were deeply
enmeshed in political machinations, a movement for
reform of the Church began to build during this same
time (1490s-1520s). These reformers wanted a less
worldly, more spiritual church, as well as a church
focused on the needs of their parishioners (i.e.,
vernacular translations of Bible and more charity/less
building of magnificent buildings/art).

8.
Criticizing the Church was a dangerous profession.
Indeed the Church usually attacked any criticisms
as heresy, an punished heresy with painful death.
However the Church relied on secular power for
the prosecution of heresy.
But what would happen if secular power decided
not to prosecute the Church’s enemies, and
indeed decided to support those enemies/critics?

10.
Luther was born in Germany, went into Law as a
young man, and then after an intense spiritual crisis,
moved into an Augustinian monastery.
He was obsessed with his soul’s salvation and
through his careful reading of Augustine and the
Book of Romans in the Bible, became convinced that
salvation is only achievable through God’s grace.
That is, human works/actions play no role in
salvation.
Thus, for Luther, the practice of indulgences was
highly wrong.
First, it indicated a church focused obsessively on
worldly concerns (money and power).
Second, it indicated that salvation could be
purchased (i.e., God responded to money or was
“forced” to let people into heaven due to their
Lucas Cranach (the Elder), Martin Luther, 1526, aged 46 deeds).

11.
In 1517, Luther (aged 34) posted 95 religious
statements (Theses) on the door of the Church at
Wittenberg.
Key points:
1.Scripture should be made available to all (i.e., in
vernacular)
2.No need for hierarchical cadre of scriptural
professionals (there could be a priesthood of all
believers)
3.Any religious dogma without scriptural evidence
should be rejected (e.g., priests, popes, purgatory,
saints, virgin mary, writings of the early church
fathers, monasteries)
4.Salvation comes from god’s grace, not through
human works
5.Secular power is what guarantees peace on earth
(not the church)

12.
Unlike earlier “heretics” who criticized the Church, Luther
was able to survive because of support from a variety of
powerful German princes. The Pope did excommunicate
Luther in 1520, and was eventually summoned to the
German Holy Roman Emperor to answer charges of heresy.
Luther’s famous declaration (“Here I stand. I can do no
other.”) lead to him being declared a heretic, but wasn’t
prosecuted because he was protected by the Elector of
Saxony.

13.
Safe from heresy trials, Luther :
1. Translated the Bible into German (first vernacular
translation) which was then distributed via printing
press
2. Published his sermons in German which were then
distributed via printing press.
3. Transformed church practices in Saxony, which then
spread to other areas of Germany (and then to other
areas in Europe). This was eventually codified into
the doctrines of the Lutheran faith, the first
Protestant Church.
4. Married the former nun Katharina von Bora.

14.
Luther ‘s Table Time quotes(his followers wrote
down not only his sermons but his dinner table
conversation as well):
“Young men are plagued by lust, which
extinguishes as soon as they enter into
matrimony.”
“A happy fart never comes from a miserable ass.”
“Whoever smells it, out of him it crept.”
“Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep;
whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does
not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!”
“If God has no sense of humor, I don't want to go
to Heaven.”

15.
After Luther there
were a variety of
other reform
movements
throughout Europe.
The most prominent
of these were ones
inspired by John
Calvin (1509-1564).
Calvin eventually
created a type of
total theocracy in the
Swiss city of Geneva.

16.
Most of today’s evangelic-style Christian faiths are either
inspired by or directly descended from Calvin’s religious
writings.

18.
At one level, while Martin Luther and the other
reformers were working, artists in Italy
continued to work in the same way.
The late Michelangelo’s style(and those who
immediately came after) is sometimes referred
to as Mannerism, which is characterized by
elongated forms, precariously balanced poses,
a collapsed perspective, irrational settings,
complexity and theatrical lighting.

34.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church responded to
the Protestant Challenge in a variety of ways.
This is generally referred to as the Catholic
Counter-Reformation.

35.
The Counter Reformation refers to the attempt
by the Catholic Church to:
1. Reform itself (e.g., Council of Trent [1545]
articulated the main beliefs of Catholicism
[still in force], Jesuits)
2. Eliminate Protestant heresy by encouraging
monarchs of Catholic lands to defeat or
invade lands ruled by Protestant monarchs.
3. More effort in eliminating heresy within
Catholic lands (e.g., office of inquisition)

38.
Wars of Religion
[1560s-1648]
Albrecht Dürer,
The Knight, Death and the Devil,
1513.

39.
1.Revolt of the
Netherlands [also known
as the 80 Years War,
1568-1648]
Protestant nationalists (mainly
urban merchants) in the
Netherlands rebelled against
Catholic Spain.
Eventually result: Netherlands
Independence

57.
His religious paintings are darkly
dramatic (he is the artist of
chiaroscuro) and are
contemporary in that they
contain settings and people from
16th Century Rome.
Many of his works are enduring
masterpieces of Western art …

68.
Artemisia
Gentileschi
(1593 – 1652)
Follower of Caravaggio.
Raped by a fellow student, she is
subjected to a long and humiliating
trial, in which she is able to sue
(and then imprison) her assaulter.
Judith Slaying Holofernes, c 1611–12

72.
Palestrina (1525-1594) is the first
composer to have his complete works
published.
His music is restrained so that the sung
words can be clearly understood.

73.
Missa Papae Marcelli:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wVaD2_RmO8
Palestrina uses polyphony (two or more
voices of equal importance) but is able
to not only make the sung words
intelligible, but glorifies them as well,
thereby achieving the goals of the
Council of Trent.

74.
The other stylistic reaction to
the Reformation was to
emphasize religious themes in a
dramatic way that highlight the
power, history, and majesty of
the Catholic Church.

93.
"I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there
seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times
into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he
seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great
love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so
surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish
to be rid of it.
The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily,
but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so
sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God
of His goodness to make him experience it”
The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa by Bernini